


A selfish night

by MellenaBrave



Series: Talia Al Ghul: Redemption au [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - Fandom, Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Genre: Because fuck you Morrison that's why, Good Talia au, If you know jack shit about Talia and her history please fuck off, Morrison himself admitted it so can it right away, Redemtion au, The writers have done her so fucking dirty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 04:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11684403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellenaBrave/pseuds/MellenaBrave
Summary: It's the first time her son sleeps over at her new place, however, when Damian's foster brother tags along Talia finds herself doubtful if she shouldn't do something else that night.





	A selfish night

Writing this took me way longer then it should have, but here is more redemption au for Talia. 

Talia hurried around her living space, making sure everything was set accordingly. Damian’s favorite snacks were on the kitchen table with a variety of movies to chose from. The newly brought gaming console was installed, age appropriate games were stored on the shelf, pillows and blankets were distributed on the couch and the food she prepared earlier was on the kitchen table.

So far, everything was perfect. 

“You’re throwing a birthday party and didn’t invite me? How mean Tali!” The voice made her jump, she swiftly grabed for her blade ready for a fight, until she realized who the intruder was. “Harleen, what are you doing here.” She asked the woman who was sitting one her window slide as if she owned the place. The fake blond smiled at her waving a stack of papers around, “Pam told me to drop these off. So what’s up with all of this?” She asked, Talia took the files and swiftly flew over them, she frowned, already being able to tell that the other biologist didn’t have any luck with it either. 

Harley looked over her shoulder curiously and Talia droped them onto her desk, planing to take a look at them later. “So? I was asking a question, you know.” Talia sighed, “Sorry, I’m a bit on edge right now. My son is sleeping over tonight. It’s the first time since..you know.” The other woman beamed, wrapping Talia into a tight hug. “Aw, I’m so happy for ya Tali!” She exclaimed, Talia smiled as her friend planted a wet kiss on her cheek. 

“Thank you. Any advice?” 

“I think you’ll be just fine.” 

With a last peck on her cheek Harley said goodbye and Talia was left alone, the heavy feeling on her chest suddenly seemed a bit lighter. She took a deep breath, wondering if she forgot anything. The doorbell rang and Talia jumped, she hurried to the mirror, making sure her hair was sitting right. She felt silly, it was just Damian and his friend Maya after all, but she couldn’t help herself. She was glad she did it in retrospect though as she discovered the red lipstick stains on her cheek, she quickly wiped them away with a wet cloth and hurried to the door.  
“Sorry for keeping you two-” She started to say as she opened the door, but paused as the person next to her son wasn’t who she was expecting. Damian gave her a apologetic look as the older teen next to him glared at her. “Maya couldn’t make it, I hope you don’t mind me bringing Duke instead.”

-  
“So, make yourself at home.” Talia said as she showed the boys the room she prepared for Damian. Damian looked around and raised a eyebrow at the cat themed bunk beds. “I had a bit of help deciding on the furniture.” She admitted, Duke didn’t say anything as he droped his bag on the top bunk. “Not fair! It’s my room! I should decide who gets which bunk.” Her son exclaimed, the older boy gave him a amused stare, “You would fall out of it.” He said and Damian’s face turned red, “Don’t be ridiculous Thomas!” He exclaimed. “Yes you would,” Duke insisted, “You fall out of your bed at home all the time.” 

“I do no such thing!” Her son exclaimed in annoyance but there was amusement in his eyes. Talia stood in the doorway, suddenly feeling out of place. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” She said as the boys started to rough house playfully. She breathed a sigh of relife as she entered the kitchen, she could handle this, she told herself. This was a new beginning, Damian changed a lot, it was normal that she felt awkward. 

She missed a lot but that was fine, she told herself, she will catch up soon enough. 

Talia tried to distract herself by starting to warm up their dinner. “-TT-, Umi!” Damian suddenly exclaimed from the doorway, “Duke and me will play some video games.” Talia smiled, “Dinner will be ready in a bit, don’t spoil your appetite. Also, you might want these.” She motioned to the two soft drink bottles on the kitchen table and felt pleased with herself as her son’s eyes lit up, “Boga Cidre. I haven’t had this since we were in Tunesia 6 years ago!” Damian hurridly took the bottles, “Thank you!” He said before running out of the kitchen. Talia stared after him, not used to see her son act so…childish. 

All of this was unfamiliar for her, a life she never really experienced before. It was a bit perplexing,

but it wasn’t bad.  
-  
The boys were in the middle of playing ‘Cheese Vikings: the Gouda returns’ when Talia came to get them for dinner. She stared at the TV screen for quiet some time, trying to figure out what even was going on, they seem to be fighting a cheese dragon, didn’t the guy at the store claim it’s a platformer?? “Wouldn’t the fire melt the cheese?” She asked absentmindly, “No, it’s magic.” Damian answered without taking his eyes off of the screen.  
“The fire?” 

“No the cheese.” 

So apparently her son liked a game about Vikings and magical cheese. Well then. “Dinner is ready.” She announced and that gained her two sets of groans. “We are in the middle of a boss fight! If we stop now we won’t be able to defeat him and will have to do the entire level all over again.” Talia raised an eyebrow at that statement, weren’t there suppose to be checkpoints before bossbattles?  
“We probably will have to do it anyway, I suck at this game man.” Duke chimed in, lying the controller down after pausing the game “Traitor.” Said Damian as he took a sip from the Boga bottle. Talia took a look at the screen, the energy of the boss already seemed to be half way down. 

Talia sat down between the boys and took Duke’s controller, earning her two very confused looking stares, “If I can slay these kind of creatures in real live a video game won’t be a problem. You don’t mind, right?” She asked Duke who just numbly nodded before scrambling over to Damian’s side, pretending he wanted some of the soft drink, which already was half empty. Talia only felt slightly hurt. 

“Are you sure about this? It’s harder then it looks mother, you know?” Talia gave her son a confident smile, he really should know better then to underestimate her. 

-

“Where did you learn this.” Her son demanded to know as they were sitting at the table, Talia loaded his plate with the cuscus she prepared earlier, “Seriously though, I was 5000 points behind and on my last life, how did you manage to beat Damian’s score and beat the boss almost single handly?” Duke threw in and Talia smiled, “The battle system is similar to a game I used to play a lot when I was in university.” Damian stared at her like she grew a second head, “You used to play video games? As an adult.” 

“Watch your tone. And yes, my roommate got me into it. It helped me relax.” And avoid tackling her work load. She added in her mind. “I had no idea you have a degree.” Duke admitted as Talia gave him his plate, “Carefull, it’s hot.” She told him as she handed the food over. “I have several degrees, biological engineering, mechanical engineering, clasic literature, ancient history, art, business and several others.” Duke stared, “How old are you?” He asked perplexed. 

Talia just smiled as she started eating.

“What about you?” She asked, “Any plans for college?” Duke seemed uncomfortable, “Well, I was thinking maybe something in the medical field.” He answered. Damian raised a eyebrow, “You tried to fix a gun wond with a band aid last week.” He pointed out and Talia couldn’t help a chuckle escape her mouth as Duke tried to kick Damian under the table for revenge. 

“Also, aren’t you really into literature? I thought you would want to do something with that.” 

“Damian, drop it.” Duke said, clearly not comfortable with discussing his future right now. “Doing what you love and sharing it with people can already make a big difference mister Thomas.” Talia said, “Art can give people hope and hope is something very valuable in our world.” Duke stared at her as Talia took his plate to give him a second serving, “Or at least that’s what my psychologist told me. Wanting to help others is a nobel cause but if you abandon what you love for it you will just cause pain to yourself.”

The young man seemed taken a back by her advice. “Um thanks.” He said, avoiding eye contact, “But can we maybe talk about something different right now?” Duke looked visible uncomfortable now, Talia was worried she might have oversteped her boundaries in that conversation.

“Um. I spent the week helping a friend exploring the old sewer system of gotham.” Damian said to change the topic. Talia blinked, “Aren’t those a giant maze?” Duke asked, clearly also wondering who in their right mind would even attempt navigating through them. Talia remebered how she herself tried to make sense of the old tunnel system, but it seemed to change everytime she thought she had figured it out. “Not for her.” Damian simply answered, “She has the whole thing maped out. I honestly don’t know how she managed to do it.”

“Oh, that sounds like she is a valuable ally. Have I met her yet?” Talia’s interest was peaked. Duke and Damian exchanged looks, “Well um, she isn’t really *Robin’s* friend, well at least not a close friend, you see.” He started, not looking at her directly, “She is however *my* friend….I would rather she keeps out of the entire hero thing….at least as much as possible with her.” Damian said and Talia felt a pit in her stomach. “Sorry..” he said, Talia reached for her cup, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. She knew what he was apologizing for.

'Sorry, but you aren’t part of that life.’

“Um,” Duke said, “How about we watch a movie? I brought Princess Mononoke with me.”  
-  
Talia watched as the movie neared it’s end, she had to say, Duke sure had a good eye when it came to movies. Of course she heared of Ghibli movies before, but she never really found the time or desire to watch one before. She regreted that now. She has come to regret a lot of things recently. 

Talia directed her attention to the two boys next to her which were a tangle of limbs and a blanket which was half way to the ground. Talia smiled, she didn’t really know when the boys fell asleep but she had to admit they were adorable.

She got up and readjusted the blanket, adding her own for good measure. There were ups and downs that night but overall the sleepover seemed to have been a success. She reached for the pillows to make sure they are more comfortable, but then it happened.

“Mom.” 

It was a mumble, bearly audioable, but Talia hearted it and felt her heart sink. Duke shifted in his sleep. Suddenly Talia didn’t see a young man, but a child. She thought back to their conversation from earlier, of course he would want to chose a carrier in the medical field, how could she miss something so obvious?

Talia looked at her desk, the files Harley brought over earlier, what the hell was she doing?

-  
Duke woke up with a mop of hair in his face, he gently shifted so Damian’s head would role off of his chest and on the pillow next to them. He stretched, feeling sore from sleeping in such a awkward position. He took a look around him, wondering what had woken him up.

He spots a light from the corner of his eye and heared a hushed curse word. Talia was sitting at her desk, hunched over a bunch of papers which were scattered around her working space. She was talking to somebody on the phone, Duke realized, as she continued to speak in a hushed voice.

“Are you sure you can’t- yes, I know how late it is, please I-….” The conversation broke off as Talia turned twoards him, noticing he was awake, “I will call you tomorrow. Thanks you again.” She said before ending the call. “Sorry. Did I wake you?” She asked and Duke shakes his head despite her really being the reason he was awake. He got up and made his way over to her, taking a scrap piece of paper out of her hair. He never saw that woman so ungrazefull before, so human. 

“What are you working on?” He asked, wondering what case could suddenly be that important for her. “I…” Talia trailed off but Duke didn’t need her to finish that sentence anyways, he saw the files often enough. They weren’t identical to the ones they had in the bat cave, there were more pages and a bunch of hand writen notes, but Duke would recognize them eitherway.

“You are analysing Joker toxin?”

Talia nods, she seemed uncomfortable. “I’m trying to find out how it works. That way we might be able to find a way to treat people who suffer from long term consequences.” People like his parents. “I’m sorry.” She said, avoiding his questioning gaze, “I should have spent the night doing more research. But instead I put my personal affairs before this. I just was so excited about spending time with Damian and-….” Talia trailed off and Duke couldn’t help staring.  
For a second it wasn’t Talia sitting there, it was Damian, who put everyone else above himself and constantly felt guilty when he couldn’t handle something alone, trying to disguise it with pride.

Duke smiled, he had to have got it from somewhere he guessed. “You put Damian before this Talia, I would have been furious if you didn’t.” He explained. Talia smiled a bitter smile, “I’m happy that there are people like you in my son’s life. I haven’t been the best parent and I still have a lot of unlearning to do before I can be fully part of it again, so knowing he has people who care about him that much is a huge relife.” She admitted. 

“Thank you for being there for him when me and his father fail to.” 

Duke smiled. “Well, I’m his big brother, so that’s kind of my job now.” He said light heartedly, “But…I have to say sorry myself.” Duke added. The older woman gave him a questioning look, “I misjudged you. You aren’t a bad person Talia. You actually remind me of my own mother.” There was a while of silence where the sentence hang in the air between them. Duke couldn’t say what Talia was thinking but he himself felt a bit embarrassed about his admittion.

“I will carry Damian to his bed.” He declared, finding a easy way out of that conversation. Talia nods before directing her attention back to the papers. 

“Talia.” He said before scooping Damian up in his arms, “If you consider spending time with us and taking care of yourself selfish, then please, for your family’s sake, be selfish now and then. Get some rest, I don’t want to use sleeping drugs on you like we do on Tim.” 

With that Duke made his way to Damian’s room, leaving a smiling Talia behind.


End file.
